The Christian Jewish RootsSýnishorn

Emphasizing the point that obedience is still God’s expectation, Paul twice quotes directly from the Old Testament. The first is from Deuteronomy 27:26, taken from an incident in Israel’s history that is well worth knowing. The essence of what transpired is summarized in verses 9-10 of that chapter: “Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, ‘Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God. Therefore you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.’”

God had rescued the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, and now the second generation was on the verge of entering the Promised Land. God’s ringing advice was essentially: “Keep the commandments!”

Acting out the importance of this, Moses ordered the tribes of Israel (after they entered Canaan) to divide into two units. One half of Israel was to climb Mount Ebal; and the other half, Mount Gerazim. These two mountains are roughly in the middle of the land of Canaan. The people on one mountaintop were to shout a series of declarations, all of which related to “curses” for not obeying God’s law. The people on the other mountaintop were to shout back, “Amen!” at the conclusion of every declaration. The words Paul quoted were the final shouted words. What a dramatic way to emphasise the importance of keeping God’s law!

The second quote from the Old Testament that emphasises obedience to God’s law is more of a paraphrase than a direct quote. It comes from Deuteronomy 21:23. In that context, God commanded that someone who broke the law and received the death penalty should be hung on a tree. That doesn’t mean death by hanging, for the ancient Israelites executed people by stoning (The NKJV Study Bible note on Deuteronomy 21:23). But after death, the body was hung on a tree in a public place for one day as a demonstration that sin brings death.

In Galatians 3:13, Paul refers to Christ in conjunction with “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” because Christ’s body was publicly displayed, hung on a stake of wood. Rather than some new doctrine or a change in everything the Bible teaches about obedience to God’s commands, Paul was drawing on the symbolism of Christ’s public crucifixion to emphasize that His death paid the penalty for the sins of humanity. Christ’s death “redeemed us from the curse of the law,” which is the death penalty!

The phrase “the curse of the law” refers to the death penalty that each of us earns for breaking God’s law. It is not a disparagement of God’s holy, just and good laws or a change in God’s expectations of His people. This passage simply refers to the mistaken idea that people can earn their  salvation without God’s grace, and it upholds keeping God's 10 Commandments.

Christ’s death—in which He suffered the curse of hanging on a tree—makes it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins. If we repent of sinning, commit to a life of obedience to God’s law and allow God’s Spirit to work through us, we can receive God’s grace.

Christ’s death did not pave the way for Christians to go on breaking the law! Such an interpretation is contradictory to God’s Word. Instead, Christ’s death means we can be forgiven for breaking the commandments so that we can commit to obeying the commandments. It made it possible for God to write His laws on our hearts and to give us the power of the Holy Spirit to help us walk as Christ walked in total obedience to God’s holy law (Hebrews 8:10; 1 John 2:6). Of course, we still need God’s grace and forgiveness because obedience to God’s law does not make up for our prior disobedience.